Does enybody know what this is? Do they already sell all seasons? Uncut?? Region free??? Or is it low quality? Exactly as shown on TV: they taped them from TV?
Maybe one of you know what this is...??? Are they trustworthy?
Is this legitimate? Does anyone have experience?

Click to expand...

I don't doubt this is a bootleg. Copies of this turn on eBay pretty much daily, too.

Does enybody know what this is? Do they already sell all seasons? Uncut?? Region free??? Or is it low quality? Exactly as shown on TV: they taped them from TV?
Maybe one of you know what this is...??? Are they trustworthy?
Is this legitimate? Does anyone have experience?

Click to expand...

I don't think this is real. Notice on the Season 2 cover there's a picture of Piggy dressed up as the Queen of Hearts. That was in the Brooke Shields episode which was in Season 5.

She's right, it's a bootleg. The same thing happened for "MacGyver" before it was released officially back in last September (or so), but I think the bootlegs were withdrawn with the release of the official DVDs.

You're saying ebay just puts stuff up like that to rip people off? It would be pretty unlikely that they would have an entire "Muppet Show" box set after they just released the first season.

Click to expand...

eBay almost certainly don't know about it. Bootleg recordings turn up in their hundreds every single day. There are a number of people selling bootleg Muppet Show sets, Fraggle Rock sets, the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special, the theatrical Star Wars trilogy...and those are just the most common ones. I've been ripped off by someone selling the (very rare) UK VHS release of 'Tale of the Bunny Picnic'. When the tape arrived, it turned out to be a very poor copy-of-a-copy.

The basic problem is that given the vast number of items that get listed every day, it's simply impractical for eBay to monitor every one. Sure, if they spot something that infringes their rules it'll get taken down, but generally they'll only act if the offending item is brought to their attention. And from experience, they don't give a monkey's unless failure to do so would result in trouble for them - after all, they'll make money off the sale...

I guess I'll have to remember not to fall for that one when I see them do something like that with TV shows.

By the way, we kind of got of subject. I asked about the Frank/Richard Miss Piggys and I never really got a response. Everybody just started talking about the entire series box sets.

I'm not trying to be rude or anything, but I'd like to return to the Miss Piggy issue. I'd like to see if anyone has some input there.

I caught the Muppet Morsels in the Bruce Forsythe episode and it says there by that time Miss Piggy is developed, so it's Frank performing her pretty much all the time.

It also mentions that Frank had a difficult time performing Piggy because it was hard to find his feminine side. Maybe that explains why Richard still performed her at times. Especially in the Harvey Korman episode. I guess they had Richard perform Piggy the whole time there while Frank was still figuring out how to perform her. I've noticed that in the scenes with Piggy in that ep, they gave Frank a few minor characters who could have been performed by anyone. I guess her personality wasn't quite developed back then. And according to the guides here, Richard performs her the whole way through in the Ben Vereen episode which is a bit surprising for a later episode. I guess I'll have to wait to get to that one on the DVD and see what was up with that.

I guess that's all I'll say for now. Again, I'm sorry to be pushy. I just wanted to get back to the original topic.

And according to the guides here, Richard performs her the whole way through in the Ben Vereen episode which is a bit surprising for a later episode.

Click to expand...

She only appears in one scene in the Ben Vereen episode, Vets Hospital, in which George the Janitor (also a Frank character) is the patient. This sketch may have been taped earlier, by the look of it. This one and VH from the Rita Moreno episode are the only times when the patient's head is at the left side of the bed.

Yeah, I've noticed that in the Candice Bergen episode that Richard was still performing Piggy when Frank was performing other characters (Ex: ). That's where I got a bit confused in the Harvey Korman episode. There Frank was performing other characters while Richard was performing Piggy, but the other characters were basically minor characters who weren't regulars and could have been performed by anybody. But I guess at that point Piggy wasn't completely developed and Frank was still trying to figure out what to do with her. It is a bit strange in the UK spot for the Peter Ustinov episode though that Frank is voicing both Piggy and Fozzie. I could see that in a later episode, but it's quite unusual for season 1.

In response to your post, Minor Muppets, I have thought of starting a seperate thread, but I thought I'd wait and see if I got a response here. That is something to take into consideration.

I just got the TMS Season 1. No one could pull me from the TV for about twelve hours and I had quite a headache afterwards. I'm still trying to figure out where all the time went. Out of all the muppeteers Dave Goelz seems to show his head the most in the scenes. Another thing I noticed in the commentary captions is that they mentioned random things and had a few spelling mistakes.

Well, dispite the fact that the stuff was sadly cut due to greedy copywrite holders who didn't want to make a deal, I'll still get this one. But, then again, if Disney has the money to renew the Rodney Covington sitcom, they should have had the money to keep this stuff in. I'm thankful they probably kept the Sesame Street characters in (they did, right?) which was the prime thing I was worried about.

Just got The Muppet Show DVDs from the library and I have enjoyed them. I'm still undecided as to whether I would buy this or not but I have another question.
If Disney's reasoning for editing the "original pitch reel" was either Kermit saying "What the ****?" or the CBS logo at the end. If it's the logo then they had no problem with the guy that was doing the promotion saying CBS. I heard him loud and clear and I got ticked. I wish we knew the real reason why that was chopped up.
And also Disney has money to buy the moon and the stars so I still don't get why they didn't try harder to make a complete Muppets set. Buying it makes me feel like I'm saying I'll take what ever you throw at me because it's Muppets.
If no one complains a little bit they will continue to do half work on this and I think the Muppets and Jim Henson deserve better.

It's about time this thread was updated. I just watched the Ethyl Merman episode today and since I'm towards the end of the season, I've noticed the Muppet's look and sound the same as they do today. Piggy's pretty much always performed by Frank, Sam's look has been updated, the Newsman with glasses, etc. I'm looking forward to season 2. It will be great too see the episodes that haven't been released before. I just hope they don't make too many cuts.

I got the DVD yesterday and so far I've watched the first disc.
I grew up with the Muppet show and instantly I had the feeling of being brought back in time to my childhood. Can't really describe the feeling. But it was great

I wasn't more than a couple of years old when I watched it the first time around, so I can't remember all the episodes and I don't feel like there's anything missing with the things being cut out.

Haven't watched the show since some re-runs in the mid 80s or so. Some months ago I decided to see what was going on and saw that the season one was coming out on DVD. Great

I just loved the Muppets back then. My favorite character was Gonzo. My mom even nick-named me Gonzo..lol.

And I still do. I'm glad I bought the box set and I'll buy the rest of them

So I've been seeing this hotel commercial on TV lately that's playing the song "All of Me." If they can license this song for usage for this commercial, then why couldn't Disney get it for the DVD?

Click to expand...

I could be because of that commercial or some other agreement. Sometimes when songs are licensed out to one company there is a clause in the contact saying you can't give the rights out to other people for X amount of time.

For example: the parody music artist "Weird Al" Yankovic wanted to do a parody of "Jack and Diane" by John Couger Mellancamp back in 1983. He went to get the clearances to cover the song and could not get them. The song was licensed out as the "theme" for some chick-flicky date movie (I don't even remember the name of the film - it grossed about $2 total). But because of that he wasn't allowed the rights at that time (and he didn't want to wait a year or so). He reworked the parody into an original song and released it (FYI - the song's "Buckingham Blues" from his first album). However many years later, he appeared on The Simpsons and was able to a parody of the song (titled "Homer and Marge").

I just skimmed really quick-like through the thread. I bought it the first day it came out and I don't regret it at all! Granted I don't really remember an entire episode, much less every skit. I think we should just be glad they're releasing vintage Muppets. Maybe the cut songs will be on future season sets? I think we should be happy with what we get. Seems us Muppet fans aren't ever happy with anything now-a-days.

However many years later, he appeared on The Simpsons and was able to a parody of the song (titled "Homer and Marge").

Click to expand...

Do you happen to know whether Weird Al Yankovic actually wrote that song parody or if the Simspons writers did? It didn't appear on his most recent album, which was released after this episode aired, so I;m not sure if it's because he didn't write it (Weird Al once performed a song on Square One TV called Patterns, but he didn't write or produce it so it wasn't ever on any of his albums) or it it sounds out of place on a Weird Al album or what.

For example: the parody music artist "Weird Al" Yankovic wanted to do a parody of "Jack and Diane" by John Couger Mellancamp back in 1983. He went to get the clearances to cover the song and could not get them. The song was licensed out as the "theme" for some chick-flicky date movie (I don't even remember the name of the film - it grossed about $2 total). But because of that he wasn't allowed the rights at that time (and he didn't want to wait a year or so). He reworked the parody into an original song and released it (FYI - the song's "Buckingham Blues" from his first album). However many years later, he appeared on The Simpsons and was able to a parody of the song (titled "Homer and Marge").

Click to expand...

I always knew that was supposed to be a parody of that song. I know he also tried the Beverly Hills theme with several different songs before Money for Nothing (commentary from the UHF DVD).

But besides the point, I still horribly want this. But could we expect more from a Muppets DVD release? Wasn't MFC on vhs and DVD's ruthlessly cut too? You know, the complete deletion of the Sleighride number, making the snowman's appearance random and nonsequitor? I'm glad they had half the songs they DID get the rights to. I mean, I have no problem with the artists that own their own songs, but the greedy recording corporations and rich people who buy up rights to stuff so they have it.... that's why I'm upset.